Writing personal essays has always been hard for me because I’m a generally closed off person and it’s difficult for me to open myself up to a bunch of strangers. I was more comfortable with writing about facts and research because that wouldn’t force me to go into specific details about important life changing events that I experienced. This wasn’t the case with English 291. I went into this class not really understanding what creative non-fiction was, but I wasn’t nervous about that because I assumed that we would just be writing research driven papers with a little bit of personal influence. This all changed when we were introduced to our first writing prompt for the class. I was nervous and uncomfortable with the first writing prompt …show more content…
It was helpful and motivating to have the opportunity to read everyone’s drafts because I could tell a lot of people in the class had the same reservations I did when I first started out. By the time it came to write our second essay, the research paper, I was more willing to open myself up about talk about something that I normally don’t tell people about, my problems with anxiety. It was tough to write about this topic because it was something that I haven’t even told my close friends about. Writing about my panic attacks and my reservations in social situations in my first draft was awkward and I didn’t really understand how to incorporate my personal moments with anxiety to the research I had gathered. It was helpful to read the other published drafts to get a sense of style and structure that other writers had used. I wasn’t happy with my first draft, and I noticed the struggle with transitioning between personal and research segments. I also didn’t know how to end my essay because how do you end an essay about anxiety? When we discussed our second drafts in class, I really appreciated the ideas and the criticism the class had for me, because the suggestions were helpful and gave me a sense of direction that I wanted to take my essay in. This class truly shaped me as a writer because it forced me to open and be more myself with my essays and
A semester has passed since I started college and my journey of becoming a better writer. It has been a very important semester for my future college career, and I would not be here without the things I have accomplished. The composition program has really helped me to prepare for what college writing is all about. Now standing here and looking back I could not imagine how it would be without that class. I believe my English, and my writing is better than it has ever been, and all thanks to the composition program.
Putting all the parts of writing together is what makes a good piece of writing. Over the semester, my realization of what I was doing wrong paired with the different formatting strategies and the desire to become a better writer has helped me to become better overall. I believe that practice makes perfect, and while I have not perfected my writing or even come close yet, I believe that I have gotten closer to being a proficient writer. I believe that this class has helped me to get closer to becoming a proficient writer, and will help me in my future classes and
English Composition I has developed my style of writing and my skills analyzing and researching topics to write a piece about a topic. Throughout the course, I got better at analyzing articles and pieces to get the meaning of the topic. With that improved skill I was more able to use the information given from the text and install it into my essays, with proper citation if needed. Before taking the English Composition course, I was not one to organize my essays in an ordeal order to clearly state the point of the work. Now with taking the course, I have learned to organize my essays, examine research for a topic, and develop an essay with proper mechanics, and revising skills. In writing my personal, review, analytical, and cultural
I learned a lot in this class during the semester. The first project was our learning narrative, it was not what I was expecting from a writing class. I expected we would be writing a many formal essays in MLA format with lots of sources and research. The first essay being a creative writing project was unexpected. At first writing a narrative from my personal experience was difficult for me. I had not written anything besides formal essays since high school. Writing something that was creative and expressive was an adjustment. After a few days of writing I began to really enjoy my learning narrative. I liked being able to express myself and my own experiences and share them with others.
It was my first writing class as a college freshmen and I did not know what to expect, like whether or not the class would be harder compared to what I took in high school or even if I would enjoy taking class. But as soon as day one turned in into week one, than soon week fifteen I felt more comfortable in the class than what I have probably felt in the beginning. I felt like I could write anything my professor threw at me, because through writing I could express my individuality. It gives me the freedom to express myself through words, and write about things I felt passionate about writing about. I felt as though I writing because I wanted to, and less because I was assigned to do so.
The only way you can become better at doing something is simply by continuing to work on your craft. Whether it is a hobby, an interest, or a profession, if you don't keep working, then you will remain complacent. A year ago, I thought writing was one of those things where I would just be complacent in. Not because I didn’t wanted to work harder at it, but because I thought of writing as one of those skills that came natural to you, or you did not have it at all. I always wanted my writing to improve but never knew how.
As a high school student taking on a college course, I acknowledged and accepted the challenge that lay ahead of me. The main reason I selected Composition I and II was that it allowed me to vastly improve my overall writing skills. Developing my techniques will benefit me when I am required to compose any writing assignments for my future college classes. Therefore, with that goal in mind, I chose to take this class while still attending high school. I began this class as an average writer; additionally, I did not know the majority of the writing rules or how to make an essay meet its potential. Over the course of these two classes, I believe that I have proven my writing to be more seamless and interesting to read.
Over the first and second quarters of Dual Enrollment English at Brooke Point High School, I have grown immensely as a writer. I learned a great deal about how to write a paper, as well as, about myself. In the beginning of this course, I felt as if my assignments were going to overwhelm me; I also felt apathetic about completing them. This led me to create my own personal agenda as to how I would complete my assignments. My plan was to overcome my weaknesses and enhance my strengths within the construction my essays, depth of paragraphs and overall assignments.
I am a better writer now because this class taught me to consider the readers of a document before you even start writing it. I usually just jump into writing a paper and do not consider who will be reading it. Taking the time to figure out who the readers of the document will be and considering their wants and needs was a new idea for me. This concept has helped my writing become more reader-friendly and also helps me focus my ideas before I even
Well, my first semester in college is coming to an end and I have learned many things about myself, my learning and most specifically my writing. My writing 101 class was a bit of a culture shock for me. I was surprised by the amount of freedom we had in that class and how much I didn’t actually know about writing. Our class’s instructions were to keep a blog of what we were feeling or thinking while writing each essay over the course of the semester. With each essay and blog post, I learned more and more about my writing style and what I liked to write about.
Writing has always been a tough subject for me. As long as I can remember, I struggled with reading which, reduced my ability to find words for writing. I tend to have awkward sentences and find it difficult to have my ideas flow from one to the other. I was nervous to take a college writing class but, I’m glad I started with Writing 95 because it has helped me prepare for Writing 121. Overall I feel like my reading and writing skills were high enough for this class because I found the work to be feasible. My work has improved from the beginning of the class and I feel more confident in my writing and reading skills.
Reflecting back from the beginning of the semester, I can honestly say that I believed that I was already a really good writer. However, I have struggled with the thought of writing. Ever since I was little, I dreaded the thought of writing essays, but when it came down to get the job done I never struggled and always earned good grades. Up until around half way though this semester I still had this fear. I am thankful that this class has made me overcome the fear and thought of writing essays, even though when it was actually time for me to write them I did just fine. Throughout this semester I have mastered and learned the techniques of brainstorming, how to properly construct an outline, the different types of introductions, and much
After looking back at all the writing I have accomplished in this class and experiences I have faced in other English classes, I realized how they have affected me as a writer and where I stand as one as of now. The writer I am today has been greatly benefited with years of learning English in school and other literacy sponsors. Throughout the years, I have learned a number of ways to write and I have been positively impacted by these methods. I now know the type of writer that I am and how I write best and in under which conditions. Now, I have my own writing process that most likely differs from my peers.
Composition has helped me become a more focused individual. The lessons that I learned, have helped me not just in the classroom, but in the real world too. As I have previously stated, I work at Hy-Vee and I have improved my work ethic because of the fact that this class has taught me that the effort I put in will determine the success I will have. Overall I really enjoyed this class, at times it was hard, and at times it was stressful, but I have to say that I am grateful for the life lessons that I have learned from Mrs. Firzlaff and this
They all loved our writing classes and would write stories and articles and spoken word pieces every chance that they got but not me. I enjoyed literature class more, reading about the tragedies of Hamlet and the exciting adventures Beowulf. When I was in writing classes I always felt like writing assignments were so constricting. I was never interested in the topics we were writing about or even if I did find the topic interesting I would rather research and read about it, not write about my findings. However, in my junior year of high school we were given an assignment to write three narrative stories about anything we wanted. We were going to read everyone’s stories in class and talk about them each day. I didn’t know where to start, as per usual with me, so, I went to my teacher and asked for help. He told me I could tell a story about myself, talk about something no one knows about me, since the stories would be anonymous. This got me thinking about what people don’t know about me and I ended up writing about my anxiety and it was so easy to write about. Just the feeling of getting something off my chest was great. This really changed the way I looked at writing. I always thought of writing in terms of books I liked reading. I always held my writing up next to highly praised works. It wasn’t fair to compare my class papers to the works of Mark Twain and